Don Rendell & Ian Carr Quintet - 1966 - Dusk Fire

Don Rendell & Ian Carr Quintet 

1966

Dusk Fire

01. Ruth

02. Tan Samfu

03. Jubal

04. Spooks

05. Prayer

06. Hot Rod

07. Dusk Fire

Bass – Dave Green

Drums – Trevor Tomkins

Piano – Michael Garrick

Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet – Don Rendell

Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Ian Carr

Due to overwhelming demand for our 5LP boxset which sold out on the day of release, here are the first ever official individual re-issues of all five of the iconic Lansdowne recording sessions by the legendary UK jazz combo, the Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet.

The five albums; Shades Of Blues (1965), Dusk Fire (1966), Phase III (1968), Change Is (1969) and Live (1969), have reached almost mythical status in the collector's world. Regarded as holy grail artefacts for even the seasoned aficionado, the collective second hand market value comes to an astonishing £6000.

The complete Don Rendell & Ian Carr Lansdowne recording sessions are now available as individual LPs. We located and acquired the original analogue master tapes from the Universal vaults and created masters at Abbey Road Studios to produce audiophile quality 180g pressings replete with replica artwork - shape, design, and even paper stock. No stone has been left unturned to deliver this absolute labour of love to the highest possible standard! Inside is a link to a printable online pdf which contains never before seen photographs, interviews with the remaining living band members and liner notes from BBC Radio 3 presenter and award-winning jazz writer Alyn Shipton.

The band played together for seven years and during this fruitful time they made a plethora of deeply melodic, post-bop British jazz compositions that later on took influences from Indo and more spiritually guided jazz. Produced by the influential Denis Preston and recorded at his Lansdowne Studios in London, the band was primarily made up of saxophonist Don Rendell, trumpeter/composer Ian Carr, and pianist/composer Michael Garrick. This is UK jazz at its absolute finest and is a treasure not to be missed.

The quintet was effectively a “brand”, with a settled personnel and a recognisable sound, due to the fine compositions of Rendell, Carr and Garrick as well as the individual playing of all the band members. At the time of this recording the quintet was essentially part of the jazz establishment, and although it was always adventurous and distinctive it was starting to be somewhat side-lined by the rising tide of young lions (to mix metaphors) such as John Surman and Mike Osborne, Mike Westbrook and Graham Collier, Evan Parker and Trevor Watts. In 1969 Carr formed the jazz-rock band Nucleus, which eclipsed the quintet’s reputation at the time, so it is satisfying that the Rendell-Carr group’s distinguished place in the pantheon has become properly recognised in recent times.

Thanks to the aforementioned illicit taping of the title track, written by Garrick, I know this piece well, but despite listening to it innumerable times over the last half-century it still brings me out in goose-bumps. Mystical piano vamps lead into a scorchingly passionate soprano solo before Garrick takes the spotlight. Maintaining the left-hand vamps he begins with dark-hued right-hand cascades that evolve into turbulent funky figures. What sounds like a fade-out makes way for a characteristically eloquent solo by Green, with Tomkin quietly playing hand-drums.

The other compositions are fruitful and varied, too, and the performances are exemplary. The first three tracks are Rendell compositions: Ruth is a gentle ballad with the composer on flute and Carr on trumpet using a Harmon mute, at one point introducing an oriental tinge that would be expanded on the title track. Garrick somehow manages to get a husky timbre on his solo (not easy on piano) before bringing a tougher quality that contrasts with Rendell’s return. Here, as elsewhere, hints of whole-tone scales impart a bluesy quality. On Tan Samfu, a medium-fast boppish piece, Rendell switches to tenor, Carr to open flugelhorn. They use the same instruments on Jubal, featuring Green’s steadfast walking bass behind nicely developed solos by Garrick and the front-line. Side one closes with Spooks, a joint Rendell-Carr tune that walks on tiptoes before the leaders say “boo!” with their overlapping wailing entry. It sounds very reminiscent of Grachan Moncur III’s Ghost Town, recorded on Jackie McLean’s One Step Beyond three years earlier. And why not?

Garrick’s Prayer opens side two with gentle rippling arpeggio and graceful melody. Rendell, on soprano again, agitates the serene atmosphere, with Carr restoring it slightly before Garrick’s solo develops a more straight-forward jazz mood. Hot Rod, a joint Carr-Garrick tune, raises the tempo and the temperature significantly in a demonstration of how well the quintet matched up to the Miles Davis quintet of the time (indeed, sometimes outdoing it). Having ramped up the excitement to such a degree, they prepare us for the 12 stunning minutes of Dusk Fire, aforesaid.